Most Important
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus is living his dream as a guild master and, well, it's not everything it was cracked up to be when he was a child. But he's always got his girls to fall back on. - One-shot, Remember Me series, Miraxus Day 7: Guild Master.


His toenail was hurting him.

On his big left toe. Very painful.

It was his wife, Mirajane, brushing against it as she got out of bed that startled him awake and he groaned, lowly. He heard his wife pause a bit, no doubt confused as to whether he was truly awake or not, before continuing on out of the room.

He waited until he heard the bathroom door down the hall click shut before he rolled onto his back and peeked an eye open.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, of course. There was a time when it would be quite common for him to awake and find one of his daughters hanging around, in his bedroom, after having a bad dream or just wishing to crawl into their parents bed that night, but those days were long past for his oldest and had been steadily fading for his youngest.

Just lying there for a bit, he heard, in the tiny house, the sound of the shower turning on all the way in the bathroom and knew that Mirajane was truly getting ready for the day. He figured she was working the morning shift.

She typically did.

Darkness still reigned supreme outside, but it was slowly fading as the sun began to rise. Laxus usually didn't head down to the hall until later into the day and wasn't planning on moving then, if he could help it. Both his girls had spent the previous night up at the hall, where they wer celebrating...something, the adult members were, not getting home until the early hours of the morning when their mother finally arrived home. And now his poor wife, after only, at max, four hours of sleep, was going to go back up there and work some more.

Groaning loudly, Laxus shut his eyes again as a hand came up to rub at them before he pushed to sit up and lean over.

His dang ingrown toenail was fucking kill him. He was going to claw it out if he had to.

Laxus was busy gritting his teeth through the pain when he heard it. Over the sound of the shower still running and Mira singing softly (his dragon hearing was rather great still), he could hear a bed squeak and then soft footsteps. He was just ripping out the imposing bit of toenail that was impeding on his flesh when the footsteps stopped, outside his cracked bedroom door.

"Daddy, I can't sleep."

Laxus let out a big breath, as Marin came to crawl up onto the bed with him. His toe was in immense pain then, but at least his toenail was all fixed up.

"Of course you can't, silly," he grumbled out as she came to sit with him, staring down at his toe as well, confused as to why he was so concerned with it. "You're used to getting up right now."

"But I'm still sleepy."

"That's because you stayed up so late at the… What were you doing at the hall all night, Marin?" He'd gone home before the festivities started and attempted to get his girls to go with him, but of course his oldest wasn't if her friends weren't (she wasn't going to be the baby that had to go home first) and Marin wanted to stay and play, if she were allowed.

It was fine with Laxus as, not only were they safely with their mother, but he also had the house all to himself to do whatever he wanted.

And all he wanted to do was sleep.

Which he did.

Completely unencumbered.

He slept like a baby.

"It was Erza's birthday!" she said with a sharp nod of her head. "Remember?"

No.

They celebrated birthdays now?

Had they always?

Hn.

"I'm not very big on most birthdays."

"'cept mine, huh?"

"Of course." He even nodded. Then, dropping the toenail clippers, he reached out to take her pale cheeks in his hands and cupping them as he said, "You know why I let them happen up at the hall though?" When she shook her head no, her white hair flew all over, not yet combed out and a complete mess, forcing the rather stoic slayer to smile. Through it, he said, "Because, pretty princess, now the guild just got a big influx of jewels. See? 'cause everyone was up there drinking and having a good time? So Mommy got tons of tips and Daddy's guildhall got tons of revenue. Which means that Daddy's gonna be able to buy you even more equally as pretty dresses and bows and-"

"Can I get a puppy now?"

That made his smile disappear. And, when he shook his own head no, Marin frowned, but had long accepted this horrid fate, before nodding her own head.

He wouldn't let go of her cheeks though and, with a giggle, Marin reached up to grasp both his wrists in her tiny hands, hardly able to hold onto them at all, while grinning widely at her father. Laxus never wanted kids, at all, and had only ever had his first one because Mira was so insistent and, after that, figured himself down with the whole thing. Then she tricked him into the youngest and, well, damn, he was pissy at the time but he couldn't imagine not having Marin there, then, with him, always. She was so special to him.

She looked most like her Aunt Lisanna, especially when the woman was young, but when Marin smiled, her irises seemed to grow and she looked more like her mother. Which is why Laxus loved to make her giggle and smile so much, just so he could witness it.

"What do you wanna do today?" he asked, still holding her cheeks. "Marin?"

"Mmmm...go back to sleep."

"Then Daddy needs to find someone to come stay at the house with you and your sister."

Which wouldn't be too hard.

While most of their usual babysitters would obviously be hungover, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If his girls were just going to sleep all day, someone just had to be around to make sure, like, nothing horrific happened to them or anything. Just be in the house. Resting on the couch. And Haven, his older daughter, would probably get up eventually and go out to play with some of her friends, so really, even a drunk could handle a sleepy Marin.

Haven, really, could probably watch a sleepy Marin.

Laxus just typically didn't trust her to alone.

"Can't you stay home?" she asked softly. "And we can both take naps?"

"No, Mar, I gotta work today."

"You worked yesterday."

"I know. And the day before that. And the day before that. And the one before. And, well, you get it, huh?" Finally, he let go of her cheeks, Marin's hands falling off his wrists in the process. Just staring at the man then, she sniffled a bit.

"Can't Mommy just work?" she asked, head cocked to the side. "And you not? And stay home with me? Since we got so many jewels now?"

"We don't got that many, princess. And I like work."

"No, you don't."

"I don't?"

Shaking her head, Marin reached out again, that time to grab one of his hands in both hers, tugging at his fingers playfully. "You're always grumpy when we go to the hall. And you grumble a lot."

"What do I grumble?" He heard the shower shut off and knew, soon enough, Mira would be back in there, ruining their time together, so he wanted to soak up what he was getting in that moment. "Huh?"

"You grumble stuff 'bout how Navi's Daddy is annoying and loud," she said, speaking of Natsu with a grin. "You grumble that Uncle Bickslow talks too much. And that Uncle Elf is bothering you."

"Hmmm."

Encouraged, she spoke then about her other friends. "And you get mad that Erza just lets Ravan and Kai do whatever they want and how Haven's always messing things up and trying to fight people and that Mommy won't let you just kick everyone out of the guild and start all over and-"

"Okay, okay, calm down." With his free hand, he poked her in the tummy, getting another one of those precious giggles again. "Silly."

Marin grinned at her father before saying, "And then you're always tired, Daddy. From going to work. Even when you don't go that much, you're always yawning and you wanna take naps a lot."

"I'm old."

"You're not old, Daddy."

"I'm not?"

"Nope." She even shook her head. "You're not."

"I'm glad you think so."

Continuing then, she said, "And I know you don't like workin' 'cause you tell me you don't like workin'." Then, solemnly she asked, "Do you even like being a guild master? Daddy?"

This wasn't something Laxus considered often. It had been his dream, since he was a child, to head Fairy Tail, and look, there he was, doing it, after becoming an S-Class mage, snagging a hot, faithful wife, and having two children.

He was pretty much living out a dream.

...Kind of.

Laxus always knew he wanted to be a master, but the other things…

He never expected to...care, so much, for another person. Even having friends growing up was rough on him. It took years for him to give a damn about the Thunder Legion. Years. And the rest of the guild far more. In his grand life plan, he always saw himself as being a bachelor forever. Bouncing around, as far as women went. And, if he did fuck up and knock one up, even if he had to marry her (which he wasn't so sure he'd do in that scenario), he'd still just fuck around on her.

Why not?

He matured, of course, as he got older, and a wife didn't sound so bad. Someone there with him. Helping him. Caring for him. ...Loving him. And Mira did all of that.

Not once did he think he'd return all of that, but…

It wasn't always easy, on that end of things, for him and Mira. They weren't as close as they once were, really, as she worked so much and he was gone a lot, dealing with 'Master duties' and it just wasn't the same as it had once been.

And sometimes it would be so easy to just… When he was out, in another town, in some bar, meeting with some other guild masters, to just…

Heh.

It'd be a lie to say he didn't think about other women sometimes. When he was drinking and just hanging out with other people and he was so far away from Mira and the stupid guild and Haven terrorizing the town and Marin's tears and just...he…

But he never did. He thought sometimes that Mirajane wondered about it, when she wasn't able to travel with him, because she'd vaguely question him and that was just fucking annoying. He'd play along with her though, for the most part, but there were other times when he wasn't in so great of a mood and probably came off as hiding something.

She never full on called him out though and, honestly, Laxus wondered what she would do. If he did. He had a feeling that Mirajane would be the type to be angry at first (very angry, in fact, Satan Soul angry), but eventually would want to work through things and talk things about and about feelings and have a whole coming together thing.

The fear of having one of those big coming together things, where they dissected his life and his attitude towards it, was also a pretty big deterrent from cheating.

Mostly though, Laxus just...couldn't. And wouldn't. He might not always love Mirajane as much as he did on most days, but she was still his.

She waited for him. For a year. When Haven was just a baby. He'd been injured out on a job and no one could find him for months. People told her that he'd left her. And he was sure that Mira considered that as well, at times.

And fine, she was a single mother then, but _someone_ would have been willing to fill his place. Even in a year. If Mira wanted, she could probably open the door right that minute and find someone to fill his spot while he was still in it.

But she didn't. And he trusted her. Fully. It helped that she didn't have as many opportunities as he, for, err, extracurricular activities, but even if she did, she just didn't fit the type.

He, however, very much so did.

And two kids weren't easy to balance either. He was sure that if anyone saw him, before they were born, he would be the last person that they'd pin two daughters on and expect him to love and cherish.

But he did.

Honest!

Even his oldest, for all the headaches she brought.

And Marin too, regardless of how sickly and needy she could be.

Like he'd stated before, he might not have necessarily wanted them, but the second that they entered his life something changed. Maybe, the first time around, it took him a bit to get used to the new intrusion into his life (and Haven was a major intrusion), but just like her younger sister, he couldn't see his life with out her.

Haven gave him something to do. Other than just get bogged down with paperwork and all the tedious parts of being a master that Makarov failed to mention. She was always upset about something and so freaking vicious. She lashed out about everything. He was constantly having to give her something to do, some new spell to learn or trick to master, less she'd be at the other children in the guild's throats.

When he was a kid, he'd been despondent in this way due to the circumstances he was forced to grow up in. Same with Mirajane. But Haven didn't have absentee parents, either for lack of caring or death. She had Laxus and Mirajane right there.

It made him worry, at times, that maybe it was his fault then. That he wasn't involved enough with her. But every time he tried to do something together, something that didn't involve them practicing magic, she would act so rudely to him that he just…

And he knew, of course, that he'd done the same to Makarov, when he was feeling hurt and alone and that Haven must be feeling the same for some reason, maybe she was just born with that outlook, but that it was his job to push her anyways. Makarov gave up on Laxus, eventually, but he couldn't do that to his daughter. He didn't want to.

Sometimes he just...didn't know how to not.

Then there was poor, sickly Marin who he'd shoved a lacrima down the throat of not too long ago and bleh, it made him feel like Ivan, but it really was for her health. Her own good. He loved Marin, a whole bunch. Not necessarily more than Haven, but in a different way.

She made it easier to care about her. She wanted him to. She craved his attention. And yeah, sometimes he could be a bit too gruff with her and make her cry or get upset, but she was always ready to forgive him. There was nothing she enjoyed more than snuggling up with her father, whether it be in his lap or just forcing him to bend over and give her a hug, because she was just so loving!

She was everything good about Mira, nothing of him, and that was for the best, really.

The problem with Marin, however, was that she was just too damn timid. And gullible. She hung around with these two stupid boys, Ravan and Kai, that Erza had taken in after a whole ordeal and, fine, Laxus was glad a little bit, as it kept her away from her frequently vindictive sister, but at the same time…

He just wished that Marin could stay with him. All the time. Sit up with him at the guild. Follow him when he left. Stay at home with him on his off days. Where she was safe. From disease and mean people and, well, Haven. Ravan and Kai too. Just with him. She could grow up with on him as a friend. It'd be like if he were some sort of sacred master of some sort of lost art form and lived on a mountain somewhere and her parents had abandoned her and, at first, he didn't wanna take her in, but then he did and then they were pretty happy, with him as the father and her as the daughter.

...And yes, Laxus read a lot of fantasy stories as a boy, so what?

At the same time, however, Marin could annoy the fire out of him as well.

Her neediness made him want to seal her off in a bubble that only he had access to, but at the same time could bug him so much that he required a break, from her, less he'd start grumbling at her and make her afraid.

Laxus had so much going on. Constantly. Running a guild and a household at the same time was near impossible.

Perhaps that's why so many guild masters were single…

Constantly having to baby Marin was fun, some times, and just hell at others. He'd never trade her for the world, none of his girls, but there were days where, if he could just see what it was like, just once, to be a guild master without a wife and children…

Because it added stress too. Tons of it. Running the guildhall. Honestly, if he was still just a mage and able to leave for tough jobs then come back with plenty of jewels and be able to stick around for a month or two, things would be great. He'd get his fill of adventure, come back to his family, shower them with attention and gifts, then, when it was time, head back out to do it all over again.

As it was turning out, being a guild master meant nothing more than being bored out of your damn mind for long periods, stuck with tons of unnecessary paperwork, and forced to socialize with people you hate. From other guilds to the Council to even damn members of your own guild, it was impossible not to be around people you absolutely loathed nine times out of ten.

That's not even bringing up all the drama of the place. Keeping up with members, remembering their names, having to listen to quarrels when they arose, and, of course, dealing with the stupid young teams that ran around, destroying more than saving (and Natsu too, though he was pretty old at that point).

It was all just shit. Complete shit.

He loved his guild. He loved the prestige. He loved that it was still in his family and that there was a legacy there and he loved the concept of molding younger mages, keeping them honest, and running the place right. Keeping Magnolia safe. Keeping Fiore safe.

All that other shit though…

The same could be said about his home life though. He loved his wife and daughters a bunch. A whole bunch. More than the guild.

If it came down to it, he would disband the whole damn guild if it meant keeping his wife and kids safe.

But…

Damn if Mira couldn't piss him off sometimes. Telling him to do shit. They worked the same amount of time; why the hell did it have to be him that kept the yard work up? And the trash out? Take care of Haven's attitude problems?

Huh?

Why?

And fuck Haven was a damn brat. Completely and utterly. Just a brat. She was constantly doing things just to piss him off. She would disobey him, frequently persuade the other children into doing the same, and worst of all, seemed to be horribly misguided in just what kind of power she possessed. She was deluded into thinking that she could take on anyone, anywhere, anytime and it would all turn out okay.

It wouldn't. Eventually something horrific would happen. Laxus just knew it. And he would feel horribly responsible when it did for never putting her in her place properly.

Then there was Marin. Always whining and crying and snotting and coughing and just… She was so…

Ugh.

Laxus was living his dream and, sometimes, that could be damn miserable.

"Of course I like being the Master, Marin." Laxus leaned over then to press his lips to the top of her head. "It's all I ever wanted."

And it was. And he'd gotten it.

And, honestly, it wasn't quite what he always thought it would be.

But…

Then he had Marin. And Haven. And Mirajane. Who he never envisioned, never wanted, and would have thought his life was absolutely miserable, if he heard back in the day that they were a packaged deal. And while it might have been less stressful, without a family, being a master, they still added something to it.

When he was depressed or feeling down at work, he got to go home where, fine, sometimes he had a horrible time, but for the most part, things were okay. And other times, they were downright great. Like when Haven was in a good mood after completing one of those silly jobs he let her and the other children go out on and he got to sit there, all proud and impressed because, yeah, his daughter was a cocky little brat, but she was his cocky little brat.

And who the hell did you think she got that from?

Yeah.

Then Marin would make him these little cards and drawings and sometimes it was annoying, but it still made him feel loved, when he was missing Gramps or was thinking about his own childhood because, you know what, he could have just been a cycle repeater. Like Gramps and Ivan, but he fucking wasn't. And he never would be. No matter what happened, the two of them, Marin and Haven, were his.

Always.

Mirajane was good at it too, making him feel better.

Fine, things weren't exactly the same. They might not do as much together anymore. Even when given a complete night off for both, they'd usually spend it doing either their own things or just sleeping. Literal, honest sleeping. Next to one another for the most part, but not _sleeping_ together. And yeah, they don't have sex as frequently as before but…

Mira offered him a lot of other things. Little things. She liked to rub the back of his neck, when he was hunched over in his office, overworked and feeling poorly about something or other. Or how if he was going training or to another tow for guild stuff, should he require a lunch (or Mira decide he did) she'd pack him one.

She'd actually pack him two.

She didn't bitch about when his thighs were cramping up and she had to rub them for him in one of her transformations (he required deep messages, sue him) or mutter under her breath when he was in his own world and needed some time to clear his head.

She took care of him.

From the way she washed his clothes, cooked most his meals, and even put that cream on his back when he got that (extremely embarrassing) rash after tripping out on a trail and landing in some sort of plant he was apparently allergic to.

Another thing she did was just what she was attempting to do at the moment.

Mirajane hadn't turned on a light. Not in the hall or the bedroom. Probably the bathroom, but just because it wouldn't affect him. The others, however, might awaken the slayer. And even though he'd had far more sleep that night (and nearly every night) than her, she was worried he wasn't getting enough of it. And she refused to disturb him from the sleep she thought that he so desperately needed.

His wife loved him.

His daughters loved him.

Maybe it wasn't always shown so clearly, but it was always there.

"Oh," Mira tsked when she came tiptoeing into the bedroom then in only a towel. "You're up."

"Yeah, demon," he said as Marin grinned over at her mother. "We're up."

"I didn't wake you, did I, Lax?"

"Never." Leaning down, he nuzzled his head against Marin's that time. To her, he whispered, "And I don't hate being your daddy either, Marin."

"I didn't ask that," she giggled as he continued to nuzzle her. "Daddy-"

"I know." Sitting back up, he found Mirajane giggling, over by the dresser, where she was picking out some clothes for the day. "But I can still tell you that. When I wanna."

"Marin, sweetie, are you not tired?" Mirajane glanced over at them. "Huh? Maybe you should go get back in bed. You guys can have a lazy day today. If you wanna."

"I wanna stay with Daddy." She moved to crawl into Mirajane's spot then. "Till he has to go."

So apparently Marin did still like to sleep in their bed. Hmmm.

"She's fine, Mira." Laxus kicked the toenail clippers away from him before moving to fall into bed as well, next to his youngest. "Have a nice day at work, huh?"

"I get off at six, so I'll make them dinner. Can you find somewhere for Marin to be when you leave? Or you can take her up to the hall, I guess, but after spending all of last night-"

"I'll get her Uncle Elf for her." Laxus smiled in the darkness as his baby. "Would you like that Marin? For me to get that chuckle head over here? To babysit?"

"Yes!" She loved Elfman. A lot. She loved most familiar people though. "Please, Daddy?"

"Anything for you, huh?"

"You sure are in a good mood, dragon." Mira was slipping on a dress then, but managed that over her shoulder. "Good night's sleep?"

"Mmmm." He snuggled Marin up close to him as well as tugged the blankets up around them. "Not really. Just...woke up thinkin' is all."

"Thinking, huh?"

"Yeah. Thinking."

"About anything in particular?"

Grinning down at Marin before over at Mirajane, Laxus shoo his head a bit.

Just the most important things ever.

Other than that? Nothing much.

* * *

 **Bonus day tomorrow with the topic Warmth. Hopefully will get it out earlier than I did today's, but you know, we'll see.**

 **I can tell a lot of you don't like Haven, for some reason, in this series, so I figured my holiday gift to you would be absolutely no her in a Remember Me story. You're welcome.**


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